diff --git a/modules/deeplearning/amv_raob.py b/modules/deeplearning/amv_raob.py
index e953d9f6821ef01ae07dfe6fab47bcf333d3b74b..634f258bdb7c20e7a21f52a4fa360c4b87f5291a 100644
--- a/modules/deeplearning/amv_raob.py
+++ b/modules/deeplearning/amv_raob.py
@@ -14,10 +14,12 @@ from scipy.interpolate import interp2d
 from metpy import *
 #import cartopy.crs as ccrs
 import random
+import re
 
 
 goes16_directory = '/arcdata/goes/grb/goes16'  # /year/date/abi/L1b/RadC
 goes_date_format = '%Y%j%H'
+dt_str_pat = '_s\d{11}'
 dir_fmt = '%Y_%m_%d_%j'
 
 gfs_directory = '/apollo/cloud/Ancil_Data/clavrx_ancil_data/dynamic/gfs/'
@@ -478,11 +480,9 @@ def get_bounding_goes16_files(timestamp, ch_str, file_time_span=5):
         return None, None, None, None, None, None
 
     ftimes = []
-    for pname in flist:  # TODO: make better with regular expressions (someday)
+    for pname in flist:
         fname = os.path.split(pname)[1]
-        toks = fname.split('_')
-        tstr = toks[3]
-        tstr = tstr[1:12]
+        tstr = re.search(dt_str_pat, fname).group()[2:]
         dto = datetime.datetime.strptime(tstr, goes_date_format+'%M').replace(tzinfo=timezone.utc)
         ftimes.append(dto.timestamp())